Token
by holikimaela
Summary: There are two things you can never run from. Love and death. This is both. ArtemisHolly


Holly was asleep when the phone started ringing.

She kept her eyes closed while she felt around for the receiver – she'd fallen asleep on the lounge and had the vague impression of something pressing into her leg which might have been the phone – and pressed the button only after placing it to her ear and listening dumbly while it kept ringing.

'Holly Short, Captain of the LEPrecorns…speaking and hungry.'

'Obviously,' said Foaly's voice in her ear and Holly was awake immediately at his tone. Despite the copious sarcasm in the word, there was also a touch of soberness -- and he hadn't been followed up with any witty rapporteur. Something was wrong.

'Holly, Fowl is sick.'

'Do I need to be informed every time Mud Boy gets the flu? What did he do, go outside and get sunburnt?' Holly tried humour, hoping Foaly would laugh and make it better. Her gut instinct told her that this was big. That she didn't want to hear it. That she should hang up the phone right now and avoid drowning in whatever wave was about to crash over her head.

'It's yellow fever.'

Holly sat up fully in her chair. 'Why are you telling me this?'

'Root – the Council, too – wants you to go to the surface.'

'Why?'

'Because he is delirious and keeps mentioning the People. Because hallucinations aren't a symptom of yellow fever and the doctors or his parents might get suspicious.'

Foaly paused and it made Holly's knuckles whiten on the receiver.

'And because he's dying and Root thought you'd want to say goodbye.'

Holly suddenly felt very, very cold. 'Is there anything I need to know?'

'You're his friend from school. Use your real name, because apparently he's mentioned it. Try and stay away from the Butlers if you can. Fix the mind-wipe as best you can and maybe sedate him to be sure.' He paused again. 'Root said you'd go. I didn't know if you would.'

Holly looked upwards, past her ceiling and imagined the sky over the earth. 'I don't want to. But I owe it to him. He saved us, and I can't just let him die.'

'Root also said you'd say that. Officially, he reminds you that yellow fever can be transmitted through magic and that you are not to heal him under any circumstances as per the Council's omniscience. Unofficially, he says that you can do anything to administer palliative treatment within your own safety.'

_Palliative? Gods. _'Thank you Foaly. Do I need to come in to the Plaza for an iris-cam?'

'Root says that's procedure.' Holly scowled, despite knowing Foaly couldn't see her. Damn centaur didn't listen to the commander at the best of moons. Why now?

'I'm sorry Holly,' he continued on, 'but I _always_ do what Root says.'

'Does that mean I don't have to come in?' Holly couldn't help feeling it would be better if this whole thing wasn't on record.

'Well, officially let's say you did the cam I have you malfunctioned. Unofficially, let's say that you go straight to the shuttle port at the zenith.' Another one of those pauses. 'Are you okay?'

'Officially, I'm fine.'

'And unofficially?'

'I _will_ be okay,' she said firmly, ignoring the nauseous feeling in her stomach. 'Soon. After this is over.'

'After this is over, come see me.' Pause. 'Are you sure you can do this?'

'I can.'

'Is that officially or unofficially?'

Holly paused now. 'I don't know. But I will soon.'

It was evening in the human world when Holly took off her helmet and looked up at the twilit sky. She shook out her hair and took off her LEP suit to get dressed in a pair of loose jeans and a blouse. She stepped outside and a moment later returned to change into a long sleeved top. Cold fronts, Holly reflected, weren't something that she normally had to deal with, given that she lived in climatically controlled Haven.

She flew over Ireland's green fields, which were silver and green in the slight breeze that rifled through it. The Emerald Isle was sombre under a purple dusk. She landed at the gates of Fowl Manor. The castle no longer looked so menacing with the knowledge that the one who had made it such was lying instead, weak and dying.

Something rustled the bushes beside her. Mulch stepped out to stand beside her, silently regarding the Manor in the startling light of sun that set behind it. Holly felt him turn enquiringly to her, but she didn't look at him. Holly felt bad about it, but she didn't think she could face the dwarf as she was now. Which was how? She didn't know herself. But Mulch deserved an explanation.

'I've come to make him forget the memory of him remembering us,' Holly said, aware of the absurdity of her words. Mulch didn't laugh, and her insides tightened. 'You know he's dying?'

'I dug under the room they set up for him. Heard the doctors. You can't heal him can you, if they can't?'

Holly wasn't sure she would be able to make sense of this conversation once she was back below ground. 'I don't think so. But I can help him to … peacefully, without pain.'

'You can't do anything else?'

'The disease is infectious. I'd become infected and my immune system isn't strong enough to fight of a human pathogen.'

'I can't ask you to kill yourself,' Mulch said, as if he had contemplated it. 'But could you do something for me? For him?'

Holly nodded. Mulch gave her two shining objects. One of them was the disc she had given him and the other was a duplicate which had been scratched to reveal flecks of silver beneath gold leaf. Had the second been what Artemis had given Mulch at the mind-wipe?

'That one is the disc with his diary on it. It had the location of the real disc and I thought he might want it. I read part of his diary where it said it was important. But then I stopped,' he added quickly at Holly's hard stare. 'I didn't read anymore.'

'I wonder if…' Holly stopped, realising what she had almost asked.

'You were in there,' Mulch said which earned him another stare. He went on quickly. 'He spoke about you when he spoke about the disc. That's why I know.'

'I suppose I should…' Her gaze drifted to the front door, and knew that if anyone was watching the cameras they would be a peculiar sight – two "dwarves" to use the human term, standing by the gate. Well, she was about to make the sight stranger.

She flicked on her hologram. It wasn't a conventional hologram in that it didn't project an image over her. It used the _mesmer_ to fool the human eye into thinking that she was taller than she was. Of course, the effect would be negated if she was recognised – which she shouldn't be, since all those who had been memory-wiped were remained that way except Artemis.

She pressed the door-bell on the gate, and released the button. Then again. Wasn't there supposed to be a buzzer? Or, failing that, an alarm?

'Fowl Manor. Artemis Fowl the Second and his wife and not accepting any visitors at this time.'

Oh, an intercom. Holly almost laughed at herself.

'_Let me in, and forget you saw me standing out here. If asked, tell that you let me in because I wanted to see Artemis and started crying.'_

The gates swung open soundlessly. Holly turned around as the closed again, and Mulch nodded to her.

'Tell Fowl that I – well, you know.'

Holly nodded back. 'I will.'

She turned back to face the house. The path to the front door snaked through carefully manicured garden beds, surrounded by carefully manicured grass. Artemis had told her once that his mother tended to the roses and the lawns. Holly wondered if she had come outside to clip them or water them while her son was in bed dying.

There was another intercom beside the main doorway. She didn't like those. Not wanting to call on her _mesmer_ again in case she needed that power to reseal Artemis's mind, she decided to tap the ring of the bronze lion head against the door instead.

The door opened to reveal a bleary eyed Angeline. She stared for a moment, and Holly took a half step backwards.

'I'm sorry,' the woman said, awareness coming back into her eyes. 'I thought you might have been…he comes home from the library around now…who are you?'

'My name Holly. I-'

'You're Holly?'

This surprised her, so much that she forgot to continue her previous statement about being Artemis's school friend and answered with a blunt 'yes.'

'He's been talking about you. I asked my husband but he said he didn't know either. I – Did you come to see him?' Angeline shook her head slightly. 'Of course you came to see Artemis.'

'I did,' Holly said, and sent a wave of gentle reassurance and mind-peace to the woman. If she was already unstable (magic couldn't cure predisposition to depression), her son's death might unbalance her further; resulting in much that same effects as her husband's disappearance had caused. Holly wanted Artemis to know that his mother would be okay after…

Holly closed the door behind her, and followed Angeline up a flight of polished wood stairs and down a dark hallway.

'He is asleep,' Angeline said softly as they approached a door, telling Holly that this was where Artemis was.

'I don't mind,' Holly replied, and stepped through into the room.

There was light. This surprised Holly because she had thought the Fowls to be the kind of people who would lock death up in a small, dark room to hide it away. Instead, the room was rather large, and the full glass wall at the opposite end only seemed to make it more spacious and bright.

A hospital bed was the only thing in the room, except for two hospital chairs which had obviously been provided with the bed, because Holly couldn't imagine Angeline bringing them of her own accord. She sat down in one and found it -- like all hospital chairs -- to be very uncomfortable. Perhaps it was also the circumstances they exist in, Holly thought grimly.

'We didn't feel like replacing the chairs,' said Angeline softly, smoothing her son's hair as she lowered herself into the other chair. She took Artemis's hand and stroked it gently with her thumb.

Holly tried not to sigh. Despite this woman's flawless foundation and eye shadow, she wasn't vain. Mascara ran down her cheeks in watery black lines . She obviously cared about Artemis, more than Holly's own parents had cared about her. Holly edged her hand onto the bed, on top of the crisp white sheets, and straightened out a tiny crease with her fingers. She couldn't come to look at Artemis.

'If you need to – eat…sleep…spend time with your husband – I can stay here.'

Angeline looked up at her and smiled softly. 'Thank you. I have been meaning to sleep in my bed instead of these chairs for sometime. I just didn't want to–'

'Leave him,' Holly finished when she faltered.

Angeline smiled again, but this time it was much less manicured. She didn't say anything else, but did move Artemis's hand onto hers. Automatically, although she wouldn't have done it otherwise, Holly took it.

Angeline left, and Holly closed her eyes. When she opened them, she let herself look at Artemis.

His forehead shone with sweat, and his hair falling over his eyes. With her other hand, she brushed them away, and withdrew her touch quickly when he sighed and resettled, although didn't wake. Holly was glad he hadn't opened his eyes – she didn't want to look at him dying, and if he had pinned her down with his blue-black stare she would have been as helpless as a skewered butterfly.

She let go of Artemis's hand, and moved to stand beside the window. It was one entire glass plate, and the first ridiculous – callous -- thought that came to her mind was that it must have been expensive. It looked out over the garden, which was flushed with flowers and probably smelled as good as it looked. However, even the majesty of the garden was shadowed by the setting sun, which had set the sky alight.

'You came.'

Holly spun to face the bed. Artemis had levered himself onto his side and opened his eyes a fraction. Only a sliver of that blue showed through, but Holly still found that she couldn't seem to keep from looking at his eyes.

'Oh. I didn't–' Artemis faltered and shook his head, laying it back on the pillow. He laughed softly. 'I thought you were an angel. But the sediment remains.'

'The garden is beautiful,' Holly said, coming only one step closer.

'My mother works on it while my father sits with me, sometimes,' Artemis said, closing his eyes briefly. 'She says she wants me to enjoy the view, but I think she looks for something she can control.'

Holly nodded jerkily. 'I suppose you remember us then.'

'I suppose you're here to remedy that,' Artemis said, a shine of his old sarcasm creeping into his voice. 'You _can_ come closer you know. The fever can't be transmitted through air or flesh contact.'

Holly didn't want to come closer, but she sat down beside the bed nevertheless. She stared at Artemis's hand, remembering that she had been holding it a moment ago and wondering if Artemis had felt it, until she remembered that she had the disc.

'I have–' she pressed it into his hand, and he held it up so it reflected the light. 'It's the real one. I have the other one here if you want it.'

'I don't want it,' Artemis said bluntly, and closed his fingers over the gold disc before putting his hand back on the bed. A look of unveiled alarm crossed over his face. 'You didn't read the diaries did you?'

'You didn't encrypt them?' asked Holly.

'I did,' Artemis said slowly, 'Yes, I remember now. Except the one Mulch must have opened to find the real disc.' He paused. 'I'm glad you brought it back. Thank you.'

'Thank Mulch,' Holly said, waving the sediment away. 'He says…he says hello.'

'Tell him I say hello. Or goodbye.'

Holly, who was working up the courage to look back at his face, lost her nerve at the addition.

'Could you mind-wipe me now?' Artemis asked suddenly. 'Having you here makes me remember all the things I've forgotten and it will be easier for me to forget them if I don't remember them in the first place.'

'I don't–' _Want to. I don't want to. _But what else could she do?

'Just use the _mesmer_,' Holly muttered to herself. 'If I just use the _mesmer_ to stop you from talking about the People, then you can keep your memories.'

'You're… not going to mind-wipe me?' Artemis asked, edging his hand closer to hers, which Holly had just realised she had subconsciously placed on the bed to smooth out more imaginary creases. She didn't pull away no matter how strongly she felt the urge to, mostly because it was too late to now.

'Not if you don't want me to,' Holly said. 'But, do you want to die with memories of a People who betrayed you?'

Her heart lodged somewhere in her throat, Holly realised what she had just said.

'That is funny,' Artemis said, un-laughing. 'I just remembered that no one ever told me I was dying.'

'You didn't answer,' Holly said softly. 'I could still do it if you want.'

'I wouldn't be thinking of the mind-wipe when I died,' Artemis said bluntly. 'I would be thinking of my family and of you.'

'Me?' Holly asked, wondering if she had heard it right. Had he just admitted –

'You're my friend, Holly,' Artemis continued, 'I like you.'

'Do you _like like _me?' Holly asked, in a bizarre moment of un-thought.

'I suppose so,' Artemis said softly. 'I think so.'

'You _do_ know what that means, right?' Holly asked, thinking maybe they weren't so much as on different wavelengths as different worlds.

'I _do _attend school occasionally, Holly.' One of Foaly's momentous pauses. Did all genii have the same idiosyncrasies? 'Do _you _like like me?'

'This is insane,' Holly snapped. 'Insanity.'

'So you've said.' Artemis closed his eyes and smiled wryly before echoing her own words back to her. 'You didn't answer.'

'I suppose so,' she said, grinning. 'I think so.'

Artemis opened his eyes again, and this time Holly met them. For a moment, they were both grinning ridiculously.

'I laugh in the face of death,' quoted Artemis, and his smile faded.

'I cry in the face of mind-wipes,' Holly admitted.

'I am glad to have saved you from your fate then.'

'I wish I could save you from yours.'

In that moment, the sun melting liquid gold onto his pale skin, Artemis was the most beautiful thing Holly had ever seen. Perhaps it was because he was dying – even the sun was at its most brilliant when it was perishing – or maybe she had finally let herself acknowledge what she felt, since it no longer mattered. Nothing, not even love, could stop death.

An hour later, Angeline walked in to find her son and his friend both asleep. Artemis was half-falling from his bed, while Holly was draped over the rail. Angeline lifted the girl – she was surprisingly light – over it and put it down.

She looked down at their hands, and saw that each of them was holding the others. In between their palms was something circular and golden, and Angeline fancied it was a love token.

In a way, it probably was.

The End.


End file.
